Napoli
Napoli is a football (soccer) club from Italy.
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Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as simply Napoli, is an Italy professional Association football club based in Naples and founded in 1926 after a merge between
Naples FBC and
U.S. Internazionale Napoli. Napoli has spent most of their history in the top tier in Italian football, where they currently play for the Serie A 2008-09 season.
Napoli, who play in azure (colour) shirts with white shorts have won Serie A twice, first in Serie A 1986-87 and then again in Serie A 1989-90. They have also won Coppa Italia in their home country three times. On the European stage, Napoli have won the UEFA Cup, a triumph which was achieved in UEFA Cup 1988-89. Historically, Napoli are the ninth most successful club in Italian football and the most successful in Southern Italy.
Napoli have had several names changes since first appearing in 1926; the most important of these was 1964, when they changed the name from
Associazione Calcio Napoli to
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli. The most recent change was in 2004, when Napoli went bankrupt but were refounded by film-producer Aurelio De Laurentiis as
Napoli Soccer; he restored the name back to
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in early 2006.
History
Napoli was first founded as Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club in 1904, by English people sailor William Poths and his associate Hector M. Bayon. Neapolitans such as Conforti, Catterina and Amedeo Salsi were also involved, the latter of which was Napoli's first president. The original kit of Napoli comprised of a sky blue and navy blue striped shirt, with black shorts. The name of Napoli was shortened to Naples Foot-Ball Club in 1906.
Early on, the Italian Football Championship was limited to just Northern Italy clubs, so Southern clubs competed against sailors or in cups such as Sir Thomas Lipton's
Lipton Challenge Cup. In the cup competed between Naples and U.S. Città di Palermo, Naples won three finals. The foreign contingent at Napoli broke off in 1912 to form U.S. Internazionale Napoli, in time for both club's debut in the Italian Championship of Italian Football Championship 1912-13 Campania. Though the sides had a keen rivalry in the Campania section, they were not as successful outside of it and a few years after World War I they merged as Foot-Ball Club Internazionale-Naples also known as FBC Internaples.
Associazione Calcio Napoli
Under the presidency of Giorgio Ascarelli, Napoli changed its name to Associazione Calcio Napoli on 23 August 1926. After a poor start, Napoli began to improve thanks in part to Paraguayan born Attila Sallustro who was the first fully fledged hero to the fans. He was a capable goal-scorer and eventually set the all-time goal-scoring record for Napoli, which still stands today.
Napoli entered the Serie A-era under the management of William Garbutt, during his six year stint Napoli would be dramatically transformed, frequently finishing in the top parts of the table. This included two third place finishes during the Serie A 1932-33 and Serie A 1933-34 seasons, with added notables such as Antonio Vojak, Arnaldo Sentimenti and Carlo Buscaglia. For the years leading up to World War II Napoli went into decline, surviving relegation in Serie A 1939-40 by goal difference.
Napoli lost a closely contested relegation battle by the end of 1942 and were relegated to Serie B. They moved from
Stadio Giorgio Ascarelli to
Stadio Arturo Collana and stayed in Serie B until after the war. When play continued, Napoli earned the right to compete in Serie A, but were relegated after two seasons. Napoli bounced back to ensure top flight football at the start of the 1950s.Napoli moved to their new home ground Stadio San Paolo in 1959. Despite erratic league form with highs and lows during this period, including a further relegation and promotion, Napoli had some cup success when they beat SPAL 1907 to lift the Coppa Italia in 1962, with goals from Corelli and Pierluigi Ronzon. Their fourth relegation cut celebrations short the following season.
Napoli on the rise: mid-'60s onwards
As Napoli changed their name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli on 25 June 1964 they began to rise up again, gaining promotion in Serie B 1964-65. Under the management of former player Bruno Pesaola they won the Coppa delle Alpi and were back amongst the elite in Serie A, with consistent top five finishes. Napoli came very close to winning the league in Serie A 1967-68, finishing just behind A.C. Milan in second place. Some of the most popular players from this period were Dino Zoff, José Altafini, Omar Sívori and hometown midfielder Antonio Juliano. Juliano would eventually break the appearance records, which still stand today.
The trend of Napoli performing well in the league continued into the 1970s, with third place spots in Serie A 1970-71 and Serie A 1973-74. Under the coaching of former player Luís Vinício, this gained them entry into the early UEFA Cup competitions; in UEFA Cup 1974-75 they reached the third round knocking out Futebol Clube do Porto 2–0 on the way. During the Serie A 1974-75 Napoli finished second in Serie A; just two points behind champions Juventus F.C.. Solid performances from locally born players such as Giuseppe Bruscolotti, Juliano and Salvatore Esposito were relied upon during this period, coupled with goals from Giuseppe Savoldi.
After beating Southampton F.C. 4–1 on aggregate to lift the Anglo-Italian League Cup, Napoli were entered into the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup for UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1976-77 where they reached the semi-finals. Napoli won their second Coppa Italia trophy in Coppa Italia 1975-76, knocking out AC Milan and Fiorentina
en route, before beating rivals Hellas Verona 4–0 in the final. In terms of the Italian league, Napoli were still very much a consistent top six side for much of the late 1970s. Even into the earliest two seasons of the 1980s, Napoli were performing respectably with a third place finish in Serie A 1980-81, however by 1983 they had slipped dramatically and were involved in relegation battles.
The Maradona era 1986-1991
Napoli broke the world transfer record fee, turning to Diego Maradona with a 12 million dollar deal from FC Barcelona on 30 June 1984. The squad was gradually re-built, with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Salvatore Bagni and Fernando De Napoli filling the ranks. The rise up the tables was gradual, by Serie A 1985-86 they had a third place finish under their belts, but better was yet to come. The Serie A 1986-87 season was the landmark in Napoli's history; they won the double, securing the Serie A title by three points and then beating Atalanta B.C. 4–0 to lift the Coppa Italia.
Because a mainland Southern Italian team had never won the league before, this turned Diego Maradona into a cultural, social and borderline religious icon for Neapolitans, which stretched beyond the realms of just football.
Napoli were unsuccessful in the UEFA Champions League in the following season and finished runners-up in Serie A. However, Napoli were entered into the UEFA Cup for UEFA Cup 1988-89 and won their first major European title. Juventus and Bayern Munich were defeated on the way to the final, where Napoli beat VfB Stuttgart 5–4 on aggregate, with two goals from Careca and one each from Maradona, Ferrara and Alemão.
Napoli added their second Serie A title in Serie A 1989-90, beating AC Milan by two points in the title race. However, this was surrounded by less auspicious circumstances as Napoli were awarded two points for a game, when in Bergamo an Atalanta fan threw a 100 Italian lira coin at Alemão's head. A controversial set of events set off at the 1990 World Cup, when Maradona made comments pertaining to North-South inequality in the country and the
risorgimento, asking Neapolitans to root for Argentina national football team in the semi-finals against Italy national football team in Naples.
Napoli ultras responded by displaying a banner in their
curva that read: "Maradona, Naples loves you, but Italy is our homeland". It was the only stadium during the competition where the Argentine national anthem wasn't jeered, Maradona bowed to the Napoli fans at the end and his country went on to reach the final. However, after the final the Italian Football Federation forced Maradona to take a doping test, which he failed testing positive for cocaine; Napoli and he claimed it was a revenge plot for events at the World Cup. Maradona was banned for 15 months and would never play for Napoli again. Napoli still managed to win the Supercoppa Italiana that year, with a record 5–1 victory against Juventus, but it would be their last major trophy. In the European Cup 1990-91 however, they went out in the second round.
Decline and rebirth
Though Napoli finished fourth during the Serie A 1991-92 season, Napoli gradually went into decline after that season, both financially and on the field. Players such as Gianfranco Zola, Daniel Fonseca and Careca had all departed by 1994. Though Napoli did manage to qualify for the UEFA Cup 1994-95 UEFA Cup, reaching the third round and in Coppa Italia 1996-97 Napoli appeared at the Coppa Italia final, but lost 3–1 to Vicenza Calcio. Napoli's league form had dropped lower, and relegation to Serie B came at the end of Serie A 1997-98 when they recorded only two wins all season.
Napoli returned to Serie A after gaining promotion in the Serie B 1999-00 season, though after a closely contested relegation battle they were relegated back down. They failed to gain promotion following this and slipped further down. By 2004 in football (soccer), Napoli was declared bankrupt with debts estimated up to €70 million To secure football in the city, film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis rebirthed Napoli under the name Napoli Soccer, as they were not allowed to use their old name. FIGC placed Napoli in Serie C1, where they missed out on promotion after losing a play-off 2–1 to local rivals U.S. Avellino.
Despite the fact that Napoli were playing in such a low division, they retained higher average attendances than most of the Serie A clubs, breaking the Serie C attendance record with 51,000 at one game. The Serie C1 2005-06, they secured promotion to Serie B and De Laurentiis bought back Napoli's history, restoring its name to Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli in May 2006. After just one season back in Serie B, they were promoted on the final day, along with fellow sleeping giants Genoa CFC. Napoli finished the season placed 8th in the Serie A , enough to secure a place in the Intertoto Cup third round. Napoli also defeated five major teams in the same year: A.C. Milan, F.C. Internazionale Milano, Juventus FC, ACF Fiorentina and Udinese Calcio.
The 2008–09 season saw Napoli qualifying to the UEFA Cup via Intertoto, being however eliminated in the first round by Portuguese team S.L. Benfica. At the domestic level, Napoli made a very impressive start, proposing as one of the main candidates for a UEFA Champions League spot; however, results and performances quickly declined in mid-season, causing Napoli to fall down to 11th place in the league table, and leading to the dismissal of head coach Edy Reja on March 10, 2009, with Roberto Donadoni being apponted as his replacement.
As of 28 July 2009.
Out on loan
Retired numbers
- 10 – Diego Armando Maradona, midfielder, 1984–1991
Notable players
Presidential history
Below is the official presidential history of Napoli, from when Giorgio Ascarelli took over at Napoli in 1926 in football (soccer), until the present day.
holds Napoli's official appearance record, having made 502 over the course of 16 years from 1962 until 1978. Juliano also holds the record for league appearances with 394. Of the current Napoli squad Francesco Montervino has the most appearances with 142 (as of June 2009). The all-time leading goalscorer for Napoli is Attila Sallustro, with 118 league goals scored. In Serie A the only Napoli player to finish the season as the league's topscorer, known in Italy as the
capocannoniere, is Diego Maradona in the Serie A 1987-88 season with 15 goals.
The first ever official league game participated in by Napoli was in the sixteenth Italian Football Championship, against Internazionale Napoli; Napoli won 2–1. The biggest ever victory recorded by Napoli was 8–1 against Pro Patria, in the Serie A 1955-56 season of Serie A. Napoli's heaviest championship defeat came during the Italian Football Championship 1927-28 season when eventual champions Torino Calcio beat them 11–0.
Below are appearance and goalscoring records pertaining to Napoli players in the Italian leagues.
{. Originally while using the name
Naples FBC, the colours of Napoli implemented two shades of blue. Since the 1920s however, a singular blue tone has been used in the form of Azure (color); as thus they share the nickname
azzurri with the Italy national football team.
One of the nicknames of Napoli is
I ciucciarelli which means "the little donkeys", they were given this name after a particularly poor performance during the Italian Football Championship 1926-27 season. It was originally meant to be derogatory, as the Neapolitan symbol is a rampant black horse, Napoli however adopted the donkey as a mascot called O Ciuccio, displaying it with pride.
Napoli badge which Napoli are most famous for is a large N placed within a circle, it can be traced back to U.S. Internazionale Napoli who used a similar design on their shirts. Since Napoli officially adopted the N badge as its representative, Napoli have altered it slightly at various times; sometimes it features Napoli's name around it, sometimes it does not. The main difference between each badge is the shade of blue used, usually the N is white, though it has previously been gold.
Parthenope is a popular nickname for Napoli and people from the city of Naples in general. It is derived from Greek mythology where the siren
Parthenópē tried to enchant Odysseus from his ship to Capri. In the story Odysseus had his men tie him to the ship's mast so he was able to resist the song of the siren; as a result Parthenope, unable to live with the rejection of her love, drowned herself and her body was washed up upon the shore of Naples.
Shirt sponsors and manufacturers
{). Like other top clubs in the country, Napoli's fanbase goes beyond the Italian border; it has been estimated by Napoli that there are around 5 to 6 million fans worldwide.
Napoli have several rivalries, the most significant of which is with A.S. Roma. In terms of location Napoli and Roma are quite close, together they compete in the Derby del Sole ("Derby of the Sun"), a rivalry which was at its peak in the 1980s. There are also strong rivalries with S.S. Lazio and Hellas Verona F.C., as well as local Campanian ones with Salernitana Calcio 1919 and U.S. Avellino.
Conversely, the fans of Napoli have a long standing friendship with Genoa C.F.C. which goes back to 1982. On the last day of the Serie B 2006-07 season, the clubs drew 0–0 ensuring both were promoted back into Serie A; Genoa ultras could be seen holding up banners saying "Benvenuto Fratello Napoletano", meaning Welcome Neapolitan brother. There are also good relationships with fans of A.C. Ancona and U.S. Città di Palermo.
Honours
National titles
Lipton Challenge Cup
European titles
Cup Winners' Cup
Related pages
Atalanta, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Chievo, Fiorentina, Genoa, Inter, Juventus, Lazio, Lecce, Milan, Napoli, Palermo, Reggina, Roma, Sampdoria, Siena, Torino, Udinese